Blackbird (20 page)

Claire smiled and leapt forward quickly.
hugging
him. “That’s great, Nate!”

And we’re back to normal.

She pulled back from her hug. “You’re still coming
tonight, yeah?”

“Yeah, I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” he
replied.

Any chance to hang out with
you again.

***

Claire fidgeted with her
fingernails, looking at the club door. “They’ll come won’t they?”

“Of course they’ll come. Why are you so worried?”
Layla
said, sipping on her cocktail.

Claire had spoken to Nate earlier, letting him
know where and when to meet them. They’d both decided on a local club and told
their friends to join them. She’d gotten ready with her friends,
Layla
, Katie and
Steph
.

Suddenly, standing there amongst the crowd
anxiously waiting for Nate and his friends to arrive had made Claire nervous.
It almost felt like meeting the parents for the first time except her parents
were her friends.  She wanted her friends to like Nate, to give their
approval.
Friendship approval, of course.
Then again,
when did anyone need a friendship approval? And
Layla
,
her best friend, had already met Nate and she knew how she felt about him-
“Fuck yeah, he is so hot,” had been her
response when Claire
asked her if they wanted to all go
out together.

Still, Claire was nervous.

“What if he doesn’t turn up?”

Layla
grabbed her arms
and pulled her so she was looking her in the eyes, no longer looking at the entrance
to the club, anticipating their arrival. “What is wrong with you? You hang out
with him all the time, you even saw him today. Of course he is going to come.”

“You’re right,” Claire said picking up her drink
and sculling it. She drank the whole glass and hit it on the table, like you
would a shot glass. “I need another drink.”

“O-M-G.
You like him,
don’t you!”

Claire shot a look at Katie and
Steph
who were deep in their own conversation, then looked
back at
Layla
.
“
Layla
!”

“You do, don’t you?”

Claire shook her head. “I honestly don’t know.”
She paused. “But what if I did? What about Dave? I mean we’re talking about
Nate here. Bad boy Nate who is currently on a driving suspension, who is
covered in tattoos, ladies’ man who’s never even had a relationship before. He
has no idea what he wants to do in life-”

“Then there’s Dave who’s career driven, got his
life sorted out and probably has a ten year plan,”
Layla
interrupted finishing her train of thought.

“Exactly!”

“What are you guys talking about?” Katie asked,
moving her body so she was more into the conversation.

“Claire was just saying-”

Claire quickly finished
Layla’s
sentence, “How the boys should be here soon.”

The only reason why she was talking to
Layla
about it was because she was her best friend. Katie
and
Steph
wouldn’t understand. They were great
friends, but they were still very much in the ‘drink, get drunk, one night
stand’ stage. Ever since Claire had met Dave and Nate, her life had changed. It
had become more complicated. Nothing was an easy solution anymore, not when
hearts were involved.

“Well if your description of them is anything to
go off, then I think they just walked through the door,” Katie said, nodding
her head towards the club’s entrance.

Claire spun her body so fast towards the front
door that she nearly fell over.

Standing there in all his glory was Nate with his
friends in tow. He towered over most of the other patrons. He was wearing a
tight, black t-shirt that accentuated his muscles. He was gorgeous.

“That’s them all right,”
Layla
replied for her.

She watched him scan the room. When he found her,
he smiled at her sincerely. She smiled back at him.

He made his way over to them, the crowd naturally
parting for him.

When he approached Claire she held out her arms to
hug him. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her into a bear hug.

“You’re here,” she said into his ear.

“Of course I’m here,” he said, pulling himself
from their embrace. “You didn’t think I’d come?”

She looked up at him and shrugged.

“I’d do anything for you,” he said kissing her
forehead. “You only have to ask.”

Claire heard
Layla
cough
over her shoulder. She quickly pulled herself from Nate, but entwined her hand
with his.

“Guys this is Nate,” she said. “And these are his
mates, Liam, Blake and Tim.” She pointed to each one as she said his name.

Layla
held her hand out
to Liam, who was the closest to her. “I’m
Layla
.”

“Katie,” Katie said, waving her hand.

“Stephanie, but you can call me
Steph
if you want, either one is fine,”
Steph
said, also giving a quick wave.

Once all the introductions were out of the way and
everyone had a drink in their hands, they moved their way through the crowd to
find an open table that Claire had reserved earlier that day.

Claire made sure she was sitting next to Nate and
Layla
on her other side. The rest of them sat randomly
around the table.

“So tell me a bit about
yourself
,
Layla
,” Liam asked.

Layla
blushed and
nervously replied. “What do you
wanna
know?”

“Anything.”

She giggled and started telling him about her life
while the others engaged in conversations with each other.

Claire felt Nate pinch her leg. She turned towards
him to see him smiling down at her. He leaned across and whispered loud enough
that she could hear over the music, but only she could hear what he said, “I
think I should call you the matchmaking queen.”

He tilted his head towards their friends. They all
seemed to be deep in conversation with each other.
Layla
and Liam were paired off with each other. Katie and Tim and
Steph
and Blake were also paired.

Claire hadn’t known if
Steph
and Katie would hit it off with Blake and Tim, so she was interested in seeing
how that would all turn out. But Liam and
Layla
she
could definitely see together. He was everything
Layla
wanted in a guy, and if she had to go off what Nate had told her about Liam,
they would definitely click.

“I do my best,” Claire replied smugly.

After an hour of great conversations, jokes,
stories and lots of flirting by the girls, Claire was ready to get up and
dance.

She stood abruptly, feeling her head spin slightly
from the drinks she’d consumed. “I
wanna
dance. You
coming?” she said, looking down at
Layla
.

Layla
stole a glance at
Liam before agreeing, “Sure I’d love to come.”

“Girls?”
Claire said,
looking at Katie and
Steph
who had both managed to
sit so close to Blake and Tim that they were nearly on their laps.

Katie looked up at Claire, “What?”

“Dance?”

“Oh,” she replied,
then
exchanged looks with
Steph
. “You go
ahead,
we’ll be there in a bit.”

Claire rolled her eyes as she watched Katie
snuggle into Tim, whispering something into his ear. By the look on Tim’s face
it wasn’t something polite.

“What about you guys?” Claire looked between Nate
and Liam.

Liam replied, “I think we’ll sit this one out for
now.”

She looked at Nate who shrugged in agreement with
Liam.

“Fine!”
Claire said,
grabbing
Layla
by the arm and swinging her towards
the dance floor. “Let’s show them what they’re missing,” she said to
Layla
who playfully smiled back.

‘Earthquake’ by
Labrinth
ft.
Tinie
Tempah
blasted
through the speakers while
Layla
and Claire took full
control of the dance floor.

The best thing about going out with
Layla
was that she knew how to dance in a way that made
guys melt. Claire loved the vibe
Layla
bought to the
dance floor and joined in with her crazy sexy dance moves.

They moved to the beat, feeling their bodies relax
and almost move themselves. The drinks they’d had helped their confidence as
Layla
took it one step further by grinding her hips in the
air.

 
Layla
moved closer
to Claire, holding her as they danced together. “It seems you have an admirer,”
she yelled into Claire’s ear.

Claire frowned at her. “What?”

Layla
grinned. “Nate
can’t take his eyes off you!”

Claire turned on the spot, trying to make it look like
a dance move.
Don’t be obvious.

Her eyes casually moved through the crowd until
she found their table where Nate was staring at her with such intensity that it
felt like she was the only one in the club.

She kept moving to the music, her eyes only leaving
his when she closed them briefly. Her hips moved back and forth seductively.
Her hands traced her chest down to her hips. She felt on fire.

Feeling aroused by Nate watching her dance, she
bit down on her lip, imagining his hands on her. Claire was lost in Nate.

“Are you sex dancing for Nate?”
Layla
yelled in Claire’s ear, startling her. Claire jumped
and twisted her heel sending her to the ground.

“You all right there, gorgeous?” a blonde haired
guy asked Claire, bending over with his hand outstretched.

Claire went to take it, when all of a sudden Nate
grabbed the guy’s shirt and pushed him away, yelling something at him that
Claire didn’t comprehend over the loud music.

Layla
leant down to help
Claire to her feet but Nate was already there, pulling her upwards in one swift
movement.

He closed his arms around her, holding her steady.

“Are you okay?” he asked, inches from her face.

She nodded. “Will you dance with me Nate?” she
asked, feeling brave.

“Okay.”

She smiled and cuddled him closer so her head
rested above his shoulder. They moved slowly together until their pace picked
up with the music.

The alcohol gave her more confidence and made her
more daring than she usually would be. She found herself grinding her hips
against his.

She’d never felt so sexy before, moving into him,
felling his hands trace her body. He grabbed her ass and squeezed it tightly,
making her breath ragged. Her chest pounded when she felt his growing erection.
She didn’t stop her movements, though. She continued to feel him, taste him as
her lips touched his neck, tasting his sweet taste.

He grabbed her waist and spun her in the spot so
her ass was pressed against him. He grabbed her hand and lifted it to his neck.
Her eyes stayed closed. All she could hear was the background music and Nate’s
breathing in her ear.

He grabbed her hip with one hand, his other
tracing the curve of her shoulder. 

“Fuck me,” he breathed into her ear.

Fuck me all right!

The fact that only a thin piece of fabric lay
between them made
her own
arousal hot with need.

“Hey, get a room! You can’t have sex on the dance
floor!” Tim yelled.

Claire’s arms flung open as she scrambled out of
Nate’s embrace.

“Fuck off, Tim!” Nate replied death-staring him.

Tim, Katie,
Steph
, and
Liam had joined them on the dance floor. Claire had no idea how long they’d
been there. She flushed at the thought they’d all just seen what she and Nate
were doing.

“Dance with me,”
Layla
said, pulling her away from Nate and Tim to dance with the other girls. She
went willingly,
Layla
moving her arms for her to get
her dancing. She complied and danced with her, not anywhere near as crazy as
before, but still dancing nonetheless.
She couldn’t exactly
stand on the dance floor not moving.
 But when she looked back at
Nate he was standing still, listening to Liam say something into his ear. He
looked tense, and his eyes still hadn’t left Tim’s.

She stopped still as he turned to her, then turned
and walked off the dance floor.

Claire quickly ran after him, pushing past the
crowd. He was headed towards the exit.  She made her way out to the street
outside, Nate striding ahead of her.

“Nate!” she yelled out, running after him as
quickly as she could in heels.

Nate stood still but didn’t turn around, so Claire
ran up and moved so she was in front of him.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, puffed from running.

He wouldn’t look her in the eye. Instead he
focused on the street in front of him. “It’s just Tim, don’t worry about it,”
he said coldly, manoeuvring past her so he could continue walking.

She watched him walk past her without any further
acknowledgement. She didn’t want him to leave like that, walk away from her,
from them.

“Nate, wait!” She called after him. He didn’t
stop. “Please! I need to know something!”

He stopped and turned, walking a few steps back to
her. “What Claire? What do you need to know?” he snapped.

“I…I…”

She needed to know, needed to find out the truth,
but she struggled to find the right words.